DD:US Foreign Policy Towards Latin America

In the aftermath of the post-war period, no country in the western world has influenced and dominated Latin America socially, politically and economically, as did the United States in the post-Cold. However, the suspension of U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba has forced many Latin American revolutionary-socialist political leaders to question U.S. foreign policy towards the region. Therefore, a normalization of diplomatic relationship with Cuba will be regarded as potential improvement of US foreign policy towards Latin American region.

After more than five decades since U.S. suspended diplomatic relations with Cuba—and imposed an economic embargo against the Castro regime—on December 17, 2014, in a surprising announcement, Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced that their countries would normalize diplomatic relations. President Obama also acknowledged that the U.S. policy towards Cuba in the past five decades had been nothing more than a failure. He said, “When what you’re doing doesn’t work for fifty years, [it is] time to try something new,” implied President Obama. He added that the shift of U.S. policy towards Cuba “has the potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere; removes a phoney excuse for restrictions in Cuba; stands up for democratic values; and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people” (Obama 2015).

Normalizing diplomatic ties with Cuba reaffirms President Obama’s political stance to use diplomacy over force when necessary to solve global issues. Knowing the influence of both countries in Latin American internal politics, this announcement could positively impact U.S. relations with other Latin American countries, particularly those led by pro-Cuban regime such as Venezuela and Bolivia. As President Obama reflected in his speech, the US-Cuban diplomatic rapprochement could build trust amongst the members of Organizations of American States (OAS). It could also strengthen OAS as a regional platform used by member states to advance their social, political, economic, and security agenda for the continent.

A Necessity for Change

While few months ago President Obama was praised by many for his historical diplomatic victory by ending a five decades of suspended diplomatic relationship with Cuba, he issued an executive order in which he declared “…a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.” The president also imposed sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials. President Obama’s latest diplomatic act confuses leaders in the region and prompts them to revaluate their thoughts regarding Washington’s old-school foreign policy for the region. This action also undermines the president’s effort to signal that a new era in US relationship with South American nations has begun after the historical diplomatic breakthrough with Cuba.

One thing Washington needs to understand is that Latin American region is more organized than it was 20 years ago, and that as fragile as it may appear the region is slowly moving toward democracy, even it may not be the one promoted and shared by Washington establishment. As a sign of solidarity and unity, on March 19, 2015, twelve Latin American leaders through their sub-regional organization UNASUR condemned US sanction against Venezuela and demanded that President Obama repeal/drop his executive order. They stated that Obama’s Executive order “constitutes an interventionist threat to the sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States.”

Following UNASUR’s statement Venezuelan government started a campaign and obtained millions of signatures to liver to President in person at the Summit of Americas in person. President Nicolas Maduro did not deliver the signatures directly to Obama instead as he was planned to do. The two leaders met and both parties hailed this meeting as “cordial.” Foreign Policy ‘s John Hudson reported it was a last-minute visit of the Secretary of State John Kerry’s top advisor, Tom Shannon to Venezuela to ease tension between the two countries prior to the Summit of Americas. During its short visit, Shannon met with President Maduro and Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. As Hudson stated, a veteran diplomat who served for many years in Latin America, Shannon probably called some of his Latin American friends to talk to Venezuelan leader to pursue him to use diplomatic channel to transmit Venezuelan people message to President Obama.

UNASUR’s stance and Venezuela Campaign seemed to work. In A conference call with reporters, a senior White House told reporter that the use of threat to “national security” in the case of Venezuela is a usual language when issuing executive order to impose sanctions. The official said, “…most of the sanctions programs that we have, from Iran to Syria, Burma, across the board, rely on these same types of national emergency declarations.”

All the opinions expressed are those of the author in this article and do not represent those of The Global Diplomatic Forum. The Diplomatic Digest is an independent and neutral page that is aimed at generating debate around key international topics.

All the opinions expressed are those of the author in this article and do not represent those of The Global Diplomatic Forum. The Diplomatic Digest is an independent and neutral page that is aimed at generating debate around key international topics.

A Necessity for Change

While few months ago President Obama was praised by many for his historical diplomatic victory by ending a five decades of suspended diplomatic relationship with Cuba, he issued an executive order in which he declared “…a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States posed by the situation in Venezuela.” The president also imposed sanctions on seven Venezuelan officials. President Obama’s latest diplomatic act confuses leaders in the region and prompts them to revaluate their thoughts regarding Washington’s old-school foreign policy for the region. This action also undermines the president’s effort to signal that a new era in US relationship with South American nations has begun after the historical diplomatic breakthrough with Cuba.

One thing Washington needs to understand is that Latin American region is more organized than it was 20 years ago, and that as fragile as it may appear the region is slowly moving toward democracy, even it may not be the one promoted and shared by Washington establishment. As a sign of solidarity and unity, on March 19, 2015, twelve Latin American leaders through their sub-regional organization UNASUR condemned US sanction against Venezuela and demanded that President Obama repeal/drop his executive order. They stated that Obama’s Executive order “constitutes an interventionist threat to the sovereignty and the principle of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other States.”

Following UNASUR’s statement Venezuelan government started a campaign and obtained millions of signatures to liver to President in person at the Summit of Americas in person. President Nicolas Maduro did not deliver the signatures directly to Obama instead as he was planned to do. The two leaders met and both parties hailed this meeting as “cordial.” Foreign Policy ‘s John Hudson reported it was a last-minute visit of the Secretary of State John Kerry’s top advisor, Tom Shannon to Venezuela to ease tension between the two countries prior to the Summit of Americas. During its short visit, Shannon met with President Maduro and Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. As Hudson stated, a veteran diplomat who served for many years in Latin America, Shannon probably called some of his Latin American friends to talk to Venezuelan leader to pursue him to use diplomatic channel to transmit Venezuelan people message to President Obama.

UNASUR’s stance and Venezuela Campaign seemed to work. In A conference call with reporters, a senior White House told reporter that the use of threat to “national security” in the case of Venezuela is a usual language when issuing executive order to impose sanctions. The official said, “…most of the sanctions programs that we have, from Iran to Syria, Burma, across the board, rely on these same types of national emergency declarations.”

All the opinions expressed are those of the author in this article and do not represent those of The Global Diplomatic Forum. The Diplomatic Digest is an independent and neutral page that is aimed at generating debate around key international topics.

Author: Wadner Pierre

Wadner Pierre is a Haitian award-winning freelance photojournalist. He received a Master of Science in International Relations from University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, with a focus on Human Development and Security in Latin America.